Kucinich demands international court probe of Libya mission

Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich, who on Wednesday went to a U.S. court in an effort to stop President Obama’s troop deployment in Libya, also has told the United Nations and the International Criminal Court to look into whether NATO’s bombing campaign has broken international law.

In a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and ICC prosecutor Luis Loreno-Ocampo, Mr. Kucinich said NATO’s military actions in both Libya and Afghanistan have gone beyond the U.N. mandates and have led to civilian deaths.

“It is imperative that NATO and its commanders are held directly accountable under international criminal statutes for actions which place the lives of innocent civilians at risk,” Mr. Kucinich, Ohio Democrat, wrote. “The United Nations, if it is to continue to be a credible interlocutor among nations, has no choice but to conduct an independent investigation of actions taken by NATO and to pursue prosecution where warranted.”

Mr. Kucinich has been strongly anti-war, opposing both President George W. Bush’s action in Iraq and Mr. Obama’s decisions to escalate the war in Afghanistan and to join the NATO effort in Libya.

On Wednesday he led a group of House lawmakers who sued in U.S. court, arguing that Mr. Obama has exceeded his authority by committing U.S. troops to Libya in violation of the 1973 War Powers Resolution.

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